Lionel Messi has not played a match for his country in 334 days, since his last appearance in the 2-0 defeat to Uruguay in a 2026 World Cup qualifier at La Bombonera on November 16 last year. During that time, he won his second Copa America title and missed the following two qualifiers due to a ligament injury suffered in the final against Colombia.

Now, Messi has shone at the Monumental against Bolivia with a hat-trick of goals and two assists in a 6-0 win. This means Bolivia have become La Pulga’s biggest victims in his international career with 11 goals in 12 games.

If in the first goal, Messi received support from Lautaro Martinez, then with the next 2 goals, he played the role of the creator for both Martinez and Julian Alvarez to score. At the end of the match, Messi scored 2 goals in a row within 2 minutes to complete his own hat-trick.

Messi has now scored 112 goals in 189 appearances for Argentina, surpassing Ali Daei as the second-highest scorer of all time at the international level. The list is topped by Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 133 goals in 215 games for Portugal. That means La Pulga is only 21 goals behind CR7.

Overall statistics show that Messi has scored 844 goals in his professional career in 1,077 games divided between Barcelona (672 goals and 269 assists in 778 games), Argentina (110 goals and 55 assists in 188 games), PSG (32 goals and 34 assists in 75 games) and Inter Miami (30 goals and 17 assists in 35 games). Ronaldo has 906 goals in 1,243 appearances with Real Madrid (450), Manchester United (145), Juventus (101), Sporting Lisbon (5), Portugal (133) and Al Nassr (72).

Top scorers for national teams

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): 133 goals in 215 matches *

Lionel Messi (Argentina): 112 goals in 189 matches *

Ali Daei (Iran): 109 goals in 149 matches

Sunil Chhetri (India): 94 goals in 151 matches

Mokhtar Dahari (Malaysia): 89 goals in 142 matches